Alliance Health and Amiigo to Study Effects of Wearables and Social Technologies on Heart Failure…

The purpose of this collaboration is to get patients who have a history of heart conditions using an Amiigo device, in order to track a number of physiological parameters, and also get those patients involved in our Heart Connect social network so they can share their observations with other patients.

The world of health and fitness is undergoing a transformation. In older times, you’d pump out a few pushups, run a couple laps, and feel good about your body for the next year. The only way to easily measure your body’s levels of fat was the bathroom mirror, which always whispers lies. If you were afflicted by an illness, a doctor’s directions and general feelings of isolation were the only things to keep you company.

Nowadays, we have options. Interested in tracking your health journey? Clip on an Amiigo wristband/shoe sensor combo and track things like heart rate, blood oxygen saturation, and calorie burn rate. Feeling isolated because nobody understands your sickness? Hop on an online patient community like Alliance Health and connect with other people suffering from the same things, people who understand what you’re going through.

Because the worlds of fitness tracking and patient communities are relatively new, there are still many questions about how both worlds interact with one another (“World’s are colliding!”). That’s why Amiigo and Alliance Health are partnering together to launch a new study examining what happens when both services are used by heart failure patients.

“The purpose of this collaboration is to get patients who have a history of heart conditions using an Amiigo device, in order to track a number of physiological parameters, and also get those patients involved in our Heart Connect social network so they can share their observations with other patients,” said David Goldsmith, VP of Corporate Strategy and Business Development at Alliance Health. “Our goal is to get a better understanding of how patients who use this device and have the benefit of social support, potentially see an impact on some aspect of their health or healthcare.”

Spanning 90 days and consisting of roughly 100 patients, the study is centered around two things: providing patients suffering from a heart condition an Amiigo wristband and shoe sensor, allowing them to track all physiological measurables pertaining to their health; and then give them an online forum (Alliance Health’s Heart Connect) to share personal insights concerning the matter.

“Broadly speaking, we’re going to look at how these physiological parameters compare to the patient-reported stress levels,” said Abe Carter, CEO of Amiigo. “This is more intended to be an initial pilot for a bigger research initiative with a larger number of Alliance members.”

Amiigo is already involved with numerous clinical research studies, partnering with Scripps Translation Science Institute and the University of Utah Hospital to monitor things like heart failure, hypertension, and atrial fibrillation. In an industry where knowledge is power, Amiigo and Alliance Health are bringing power to the people.

“Remote patient monitoring and social engagement could have a profound impact on patient outcomes but are largely absent from current clinical practice,” Dr. Steve Steinhubl, Director of Digital Medicine at Scripps Clinic in San Diego, said in a statement. “We believe digital health interventions like this can eventually become a core component of every physician’s practice.”